FFVII Chronicles: Advent Aftermath
by lolitaxox
Summary: Cloud has finally let the burden of Aeris and Zack's death go, but now even bigger challenges face him. Will he finally earn Marlene and Denzel's trust? Will Tifa work up muster the confidence to tell Cloud how she feels? CloTi/Yuffentine/slight Zeris
1. The Missing Orphan

**Note: **this is FAN-MADE and has nothing to do with FFVII, except on which it is based off of. I don't own any Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts material, thank you very much. Oh yes, and the POV changes from time to time…yeah… and I made up a name for the pigtail girl in AC…arigato.. OH! Some KH references, too!

X-x-x-x

**FFVII: Advent Aftermath**

**Chapter 1: The Missing Orphan**

Cloud yawned, leaning back on Fenrir. It was getting late; where the heck was Tifa? She said she'd only be a second. But seconds turned to minutes, which turned into to an hour. Or maybe he was over-exaggerating a little. Forty-five minutes tops. But still, it was probably somewhere in the midnight hour and she was nowhere to be found.

By the time Aerith and Zack left the church earlier that day, all the geostigma was just about healed. Cloud returned his attention back to all the kids surrounding and cheering for him, and smiled. Then he looked at his friends. Tifa. Barret. Yuffie. Cid. Red XII. Cait Sith. Vincent. Up until now, he'd thought of them just as associates; well not Tifa. Tifa had been his all-around best friend forever, and nothing could ever change that. Anyways, he'd realized that the others really were his friends, and really did care. They had all been through a lot together.

Cloud felt a soft touch on his shoulder, then a familiar voice say, "Gomen, Cloud." He yawned again. Tifa leapt over Fenrir so that she and Cloud were side by side leaning on it. "I got a little caught up."

"You did, huh?" Cloud didn't look at her, but he knew she was about to say something else. "Yeah. I can't find one of the kids," Tifa's tone changed to worried. "You remember that girl with the moogle doll?" Her spiky-haired friend didn't respond. "The one with the pigtails, Cloud."

Cloud thought for a moment. Moogle doll…pigtails…he vaguely remembered a little brunette girl talking to him just before he saw Aerith and Zack.

"Oh, her." he finally said.

Tifa looked at him, frowning a little. "I can't find her. I'm scared."

"Are you sure you didn't already take her home, Tifa?" Cloud looked back at her. Her wine-colored eyes were starting to water. She shook her head. "All the kids that didn't get home with their parents were orphans, but they're at Edge orphanage." She paused. "Her name was…Nadine.."

Cloud nodded, looking at Tifa's phone. She held it in her hand so he could see the digital clock perfectly. 12:34am. He yawned. What was the big deal? She probably was staying somewhere. But Tifa just _had _to be so compassionate…

"If you're so tired, you can go home." Tifa muttered, rather coldly. She noticed how annoyed Cloud was becoming by her persistence, and it mildly hurt her feelings.

Cloud crossed his arms. "How will you get home?"

"I'll call Barret to come pick me up."

Tifa bit her lip slowly glancing in her friend's direction. He looked the way he always looked: blasé. She could tell he probably didn't care less about Nadine's whereabouts. But what he said next surprised her.

"No, I'll stay." Cloud said, smiling gently at her. "I'd be pissed if of something happened to you." He boarded Fenrir. Smiling, Tifa got on behind him and gripped his waist.

As he drove down the headlight-lit road, he turned back to Tifa. "Any places you haven't looked yet, Tifa?" Tifa giggled lightly against his neck. He blushed. "I think I looked just about everywhere.." she said. And she was right; she'd practically turned Edge upside down. No Nadine. Then she did again with Cloud, still, no Nadine.

It was two in the morning when they returned home—empty-handed of course. Tifa had fallen asleep against Cloud's back, and the feeling of her chest heaving against him was making him blush the whole ride home.

Cloud parked Fenrir and looked over his shoulder. He'd almost accidentally caught Tifa's lips with his own; he hadn't realized she was that close.

"Hey…" He whispered to her, "We're home."

Slowly, Tifa began to open her eyes. She blinked a couple of times to fully wake herself, then sat up straight from her leaning position. "Already?" She asked through a yawn. Cloud just nodded and let Tifa get off before he did the same. Together they made their ways to the basement entrance to Seventh Heaven.

The first thing Cloud noticed when they entered was Denzel and Marlene slumped down on the counter, fast asleep. He heard Tifa let out a small gasp of surprise. She turned to him.

"Do you think they tried to wait up for us?"

Cloud nodded. "Probably." He stood awkwardly by the door, while Tifa moved to wake the two children. His eyes drifted to the pink bow in Marlene's hair. Aeris…

No. He wasn't going through this again. Aeris had already promised him that everything was alright. Nothing was ever going to go wrong again, and he needed to get over her. Well…not _get over _her, but learn to accept her death.

"Cloud," Tifa whimpered slightly and beckoned him over. He complied.

Denzel rubbed his eyes, hopping down from the barstool. He let out a small yawn, which caused Tifa to do the same. "I'm going to bed," he said, "'Night Tifa."

"Goodnight, Denzel." The brunette leaned down and kissed the orphan's cheek lovingly, then gave him a little tug on the cheek. "I'll be up to tuck you in when I get Marlene." She smiled and made soft circles around Marlene's back, who was still asleep.

Cloud blushed when Denzel said goodnight to him. He managed to mutter a quick 'sleep well,' knowing the kid probably wanted more than that. But that was really all he could give him right now. He had other things on his mind.

"She must've really strained herself to stay awake." Tifa frowned and looked to her childhood friend. "Cloud, can you carry Marlene upstairs? I don't want to wake her up."

The blonde let out an inaudible sigh, but found the young girl in his arms nonetheless. He felt her breathing against his chest. It was a little…soothing.

After laying Marlene on her bed and watching Tifa wrap the quilts over each of the children, then kissing their foreheads, Cloud walked into his room. It was a little foreign at first—he was rarely ever in it—but his bed was neatly made and the room was clean. Tifa must've made her rounds in here, because Cloud noted that he couldn't locate a speck of dust anywhere.

Eventually Cloud found himself a black t-shirt and gray sweatpants. He threw them on and climbed into his slightly hard bed. He figured the springs weren't used to his weight; he was always sleeping in the pews in Aeris's church.

The sound of dishing clanking together down in the bar and the light conversations between Yuffie and Tifa was what Cloud heard the last few minutes before he let sleep come and seize him. And oddly enough, his dream was relevant to that…

X-x-x-x

**Note: **how was that? Did you like it? Leave reviews if you did. Oh and I really need criticism! I may not enjoy it, but I need it. oh, and I know I use too many commas. It's a habit.


	2. Progress

**Note:** Why is it that with all of my chapter stories, the second chapter always sucks compared to the first? Well that stops right here, right now! I promise to try harder!

X-x-x-x

**FFVII: Advent Aftermath**

**Chapter 2: Progress**

Golden rays of sunlight shone through the open curtains of Tifa's bedroom, motivating her to hum as she folded Marlene and Denzel's whites.

Her fingers moved diligently across cotton shirts, socks and dresses. She was so caught up in what she was doing that she didn't even notice a certain young ninja's slender body slip into the room. "Morning, Tif!"

Tifa smiled a chipper smile and turned to face Yuffie. "Good morning." she said, "Sleep well?"

"Well enough." Yuffie shrugged, plopping down on the queen-sized bed.

The two girls continued their conversation while finishing folding the clothes. Eventually, when everything was pressed into neat little squares, Yuffie offered to take them to the kids' room. "You do everything around here," she had said, grabbing up the braided basket of whites from Tifa, "Cook, clean. You're not a housewife, you know. Which reminds me!" Yuffie shot Tifa one of her signature smirks. "Reno stopped by yesterday when you and Spiky were out. He was asking about you…" she singsonged. Tifa just giggled.

"Why are you trying to set me up with a Turk?" she flicked her hair over her shoulder.

Yuffie giggled as well. "Oh please, Tif. Try and tell me Reno's not hot."

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud 'bang.' They looked at eachother, perplexed.

Then a familiar raspy, slightly accented voice yelled, "That was my damned breakfast!"

Tifa's red eyes caught Yuffie's onyx ones. They both spoke at once. "Cid."

X-x-x-x

Denzel winced slightly, watching Cid glare at the broken plate and breakfast on the floor. It wasn't his fault; he didn't _mean _to knock it over. it was just he was feeling a little drowsy from staying up so late the previous night that he knocked Cid's food all over the hardwood floor.

"S-sorry…" the young boy muttered.

Cid sighed and banged his fist on the table, causing his untouched black coffee to jump around in the ceramic mug. "Well now your gonna have to cook the damn food all over again, aren't you? You better hope your mommy's awake. Maybe she'll do it," he snorted. "I sure ain't."

"What the hell, Cid?"

The older man looked up, noticing Tifa, in a very fitted tank and a pair of mesh shorts, walking down the steps with Yuffie at her bare heels.

"Uhhh…" he stuttered.

"Denzel," Tifa frowned, her eyes darted from Denzel to Cid and to the food on the floor. "Cid wasn't threatening you, was he?" she shot Cid a sub-zero glare, sending him straight out of the kitchen.

The young boy bent down to clean up the mess, but Tifa held up a dainty hand to stop him. "I'll get it, sweetie."

X-x-x-x

After about a half-hour, Tifa and Yuffie had successfully cleaned up the mess, inflicted pain on Cid, and comforted Denzel, all without making much of a scene. Tifa turned to the eighteen-year old and tilted her head, her black locks falling around that pretty face of hers.

"Hey, Yuffie?"

Yuffie looked at the older girl. "Hmm?"

"Why are you being so helpful?" Tifa asked, "Usually you'd be spending time with Vincent."

An extremely visible blush crept up the ninja's neck, and threatened to cover up her whole face. She coughed distractingly. "Umm…well…" but their conversation was cut short by the sound of very familiar boots clanking down the steps.

Cloud stole a glance at Yuffie and Tifa. He was probably the only one fully dressed; everyone else was likely to still be in their pajamas. It was, after all, only a little after noon.

"Hey, Spiky!"

The blonde sent Yuffie a small grunt as he made his way towards the refrigerator.

"There's nothing in there." Tifa interjected, noticing that Cloud was about to open the fridge, only to find it pretty much barren. "I was just about to make something."

Cloud said nothing, just sighed and began to walk back up the stairs. Tifa panicked.

"Cloud wait…"

Yuffie took that as a sign to leave, so she walked through the swinging door and into the living room, out of earshot.

Meanwhile, Cloud stood still on the third stair, his mako eyes fixated on his childhood friend. He took this time to actually take in her beauty. He stared into her wine-colored eyes. They were watering. Why were they watering?

"Do you have a problem with my cooking?" she asked.

Cloud looked at his black boots and sighed. After a long pause he spoke again. "No its just…" he was hesitating. "You do way too much work around here. I wanted to spare you."

Almost instantly Tifa smiled at him. "Cloud, you don't have to do that. I do this because I want to do it, alright?" But Cloud knew better, she was tired. He could see it in her eyes. H really did feel sorry for her. To some extent, she may enjoy it, but on other terms, she does it because no one else will.

"How about…" he started, then quickly recoiled. His strong hand was gripping the banister now, and Tifa noticed that his face looked almost scared. So she decided to give him a little push.

"How about what, Cloud?"

Cloud's normally beautiful pale skin darkened to a slight red. Tifa had to stifle a giggle. Was that embarrassment she detected?

She repeated her previous words. "How about…_what_?"

"N-never mind." the ex-SOLDIER was flushing all over. His mako-colored eyes darted from his boots to her about a good five times.

Tifa sighed as she began to inch towards him. Did she scare him? If so, she didn't do it on purpose. Oh, If only he know how cute he looked right now.

"Cloud—"

"I wanted to know if…maybe…you'd like to…you know…" Cloud stammered, "Go out for breakfast, together I mean…"

His childhood friend broke into the giggle she was seemingly battling to hold back. "Of course!" she clapped her hands together in obvious delight. "I'd love to!"

X-x-x-x

Behind the swinging door, Yuffie smirked. _Finally, _she thought to herself. Tifa and Spiky were _finally _making some progress together. About time.


End file.
